June 12, 2014 — In addition to this week's NewsBreak(s), the editors have compiled the Weekly News Digest, featuring stories from the week just past that you should know about. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.

Mosio, a software company that provides text messaging and mobile web solutions, rolled out a customizable widget that complements its support tool for librarian-patron interaction via its web-based dashboard. The OmniWidget enables librarians to embed text, chat, and email help desk services in Facebook, discovery services, learning management systems, and other platforms. Library services that allow integration with the widget include ProQuest, OverDrive, EBSCO Information Services, OCLC, and Ex Libris Group.

“By helping librarians embed themselves in multiple online locations, we ensure that patrons have real-time access to the support they need to make better information decisions and achieve greater outcomes,” states Noel Chandler, Mosio’s co-founder and CEO.

DirectPath is included with the purchase of CCC’s Annual Copyright Licensefor businesses. It is designed to be cost-effective by facilitating quicker time-to-market for products, making license rights easily available, and allowing for more informed content purchases.

Users get document delivery functionality and one-click access to full-text articles from their company subscriptions, internal documents, and open access (OA) materials. The British Library (BL) agreed to supply documents to DirectPath; its 150-million-plus items include book, journal, and newspaper archives.

“CCC developed DirectPath in response to customer demand for a solution to streamline information search and retrieval while simplifying copyright compliance,” says Bill Neuman, CCC’s VP of products.

NISO (National Information Standards Organization) released a white paper draft that is open for public comment through July 18, 2014. The “NISO Altmetrics Standards Project White Paper” covers the potential development of standards and recommended practices for altmetrics.

“While citations will remain an important component of research assessment, this metric alone does not effectively measure the expanded scope of forms of scholarly communication and newer methods of online reader behavior, network interactions with content, and social media,” says Martin Fenner, a consultant to NISO on the project.

The NISO Alternative Assessment Metrics (Altmetrics) Project began in July 2013 with the goal of studying, proposing, and developing alternative-metrics standards and recommended practices. The first phase of the project is the white paper, which was created with input from researchers, librarians, university administrators, scientific research funders, and publishers. The paper identifies potential actions that will need work during the project’s second phase, including definitions, research outputs, and grouping and aggregation.

The Library Corp. (TLC) announced that RDAExpress is now available to help libraries transition from the MARC to the RDA (resource description and access) cataloging standard after a successful testing period. It automatically converts MARC records to RDA records within 48 hours and adds enriched data, such as cross-relationships, item descriptions, and consistent terminology to the records to facilitate discoverability.

Libraries can use RDAExpress to convert their entire database or send records individually for conversion (at a cost of 25 cents per record) using the online conversion dashboard. RDAExpress works with eBiblioFile, TLC’s cataloging service, to provide ebook records as well as other digital offerings from OverDrive and 3M Cloud Library. eBiblioFile records will be converted to RDA format starting on July 1, 2014.

OASIS is integrated with EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) to increase its ebook and collection development offerings, and now OASIS customers can include EBSCO’s ebooks in their Coutts profiles and PDA collections. OASIS users also have access to titles from other ebook vendors, including Ingram’s MyiLibraryplatform.

“We know there is a large demand for e-books in the library community, and that patron driven acquisition solutions are helping libraries preserve their budget while maintaining control over collection development processes,” says Dan Sheehan, VP and general manager at Ingram.

The American Psychological Association (APA) database PsycTESTS now comprises more than 20,000 test records, which is a growth rate of 900% since its launch in 2011. Global psychology students, faculty, and professionals use the database to find tests and measures relevant to their research.

The International Business Online and Human Resource Management Online databases are available individually or as part of the Business Education Complete Online learning solution. Each database has about 4,000 primary source documents such as corporate training videos, instructional videos, research reports, and sample business documents.

Counseling and Psychotherapy Transcriptsnow includes Volume II of a collection of 4,000 transcripts for researchers and therapists-in-training, featuring content that was recorded within the past 2 years.

Asian Film Online also now offers Volume II, adding a collection of 500 hours of feature films, documentaries, and shorts to the 600 hours in Volume I. Volume II represents 70 countries in Asia including Turkey, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and Vietnam.